Family Week
by Bleached Gears
Summary: The week before the Vytal Festival is set aside for families to visit their loved ones at Beacon, and is supposed to be a relaxing time, especially with all the chaos of late. The arrival of the families, however, cause problems that only families can and throws all of the plans around Vytal Festival into chaos.


**I own nothing**

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Chapter 1

Ruby Rose was waiting on the docks, though she wasn't entirely sure why.

She'd left her dorm room to grab an early lunch because stupid Weiss hadn't woken her up for breakfast with everyone else. So what she'd stayed up till four in the morning reading up on the new weapon specs from Jakobs, she would've been fine to wake up, and if she'd been sleeping a little soundly they should've just tried a little harder to wake her up. She'd been half way to the cafeteria when she'd run into a panicking Jaune. She'd heard something about family, the docks, visits, syrup and several other words that had all combined into one big word due to the speed at which he'd said them. She replied with a questioning yes before Jaune had thanked her and grabbed her before sprinting, at a speed she thought was impressive, to an airship. Asking him on the airship wouldn't have been the best idea either, if past experience told her anything. After that she'd been dragged down to the end of one branch of the docks at the same pace, which was where they were currently waiting. Jaune had taken to pacing up and down the docks while muttering to himself and staring at the ocean like it was going to rise up and swallow him. Her curiosity eventually won out over her hesitance and she asked "Jaune?"

A jump and effeminate squeal later Jaune managed to calm down and reply "Yes Ruby?"

"Why are we here? I didn't really catch your explanation earlier."

"Well my family's supposed to be coming in today, and I told them I'd be meeting them here with friends."

The first part made sense at least. The week before the Vytal Festival was set aside to allow those the hunters in training called family to visit. Ozpin had made a speech about it earlier, saying how family didn't just mean blood relations, but whoever you felt close too, and that in these dangerous times it was more important than ever that those bonds be reinforced. In additions to allowing whoever the students considered family to visit in the week before the tournament every student was provided with up to 5 tickets to give to their family, with the option to buy more at a discount for the tournament proper, along with a stern warning about trying to sell them. Her Uncle had sent a message saying he was busy but would try to make it to the tournament itself, and her father was taking his first mission so she hadn't told him, knowing he'd want to come instead. The second part confused her a little though.

"So why did you grab me? Not that I don't want to be here, it's just…where are Nora and Ren? And Pyrrha?" her stomach rumbled as she finished her questions so she added "Also I haven't eaten yet."

"We're getting lunch right after they land, it's at a super nice place and I'll treat you for helping me." He reassured her before continuing "Pyrrha's family's coming in today too, she's actually meeting them about now. They wanted to have a private greeting, so she's off welcoming them. Ren and Nora were supposed to be here, but Nora got into Ren's special syrup stash last night."

"Oh." Was her only, and in her opinion the only appropriate, reaction. She'd seen Nora on a sugar high once before, Yang had done it as a prank during a girl's night. It hadn't ended well. They'd eventually gotten her calmed down, but not before chasing her across half the school, and more frighteningly: waking up Goodwitch.

"Yeah. Ren's calming her down now, but dragging her into the city wouldn't be a good idea. Or putting her on an airship." Both of them shuddered at the thought of that. "Getting her to stay in the room took some time, so I was running late when I remembered I'd mentioned bringing friends, then I ran into you."

"Ohhhhhh, that makes sense. But if you were late then shouldn't your family already be here?"

"Yeah, but my dad's usually late now that I think about it, always has been according to my mom. I shoulda known they'd be late." He sighed. "Sorry about making you wait. And dragging you down here."

"It's cool. What are friends for if not for helping when everything else goes crazy? What kind of ship are we looking for, so I know what to look for?" she asked as she stared at the incoming ships.

"The same Arc symbol I use." He replied "They run a shipping company, and we use that as the symbol, whatever ship they're on should be marked with it."

Both of them went back to scanning for ships before Ruby found it. She got Jaune's attention, pointing at the ship in the distance. "Like that one?"

He squinted at it before nodding and replying "Yeah that should be it." A long moment passed before Ruby said "Jaune."

"Yes Ruby."

"The ships pulling into the other branch of the docks."

"Yes. Yes it is."

They shared a glance for a moment, before turning and sprinting toward the other end of the docks.

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At a private airpad on the other end of the city Pyrrha was having a less physically, but far more mentally stressful day. It was just supposed to be her family coming in, but she'd received a message saying that her family would be flying in with team FRST, the team she was supposed to be on if she went to Mistral. That had of course attracted fans and so she'd had to return to being the perfect champion to sign autographs and greet them before she'd been able to get into the airpad and away from them. It wasn't that she hated her fans, she knew she was an inspiration to some and that alone made all the tedious greetings worth it, it was that she had to put the perfect mask back on. After so long being able to be herself with her friends at Beacon it was more exhausting than she thought it would be.

She was knocked out of her musing by the whine of the motors of an airship and the shouts from outside that followed a second later. She straightened out her armor and adjusted her posture a bit, her mother would notice if it wasn't perfect, as the airship touched down. The ramp extended and the first thing off wasn't her parents.

She did recognize him though, Aurum Feris was hard to miss. The bright gold jacket, large build, and classic looks made the man look like a comic hero. Beyond that the sheer presence the man exuded made him impossible to ignore. He flashed her a cocky grin after stepping off the ramp, which she returned with a fake smile of her own before turning to look at the other teammates.

She knew Aurum from several tournament fights, which was more than she could say about the other three. She knew of them from research after her mother had mentioned them. Rouge Alchist had come off as a walking cliché of a bad girl in the articles Pyrrha had read, and her appearance here did nothing to change that notion. She took in heavy make-up, a leather jacket with some red showing from the shirt underneath, the shortest black skirt she'd ever seen, and black hair with streaks of red running through it before she met the girl's bright blue eyes. Pyrrha watched as Rouge gave her an obvious once over in return before smirking. Trying to move past that display she looked at the next member. Cyrene Solum wouldn't meet her eyes, and seemed to be a nervous wreck. Pyrrha wasn't sure how the girl had managed a spot on the team, as she had none of the flare of the rest of the group, her outfit was a simple white and black striped shirt, with black pants and long black hair that matched. It certainly wasn't what she expected out of a champion. The final member certainly looked to be though. Terra Shade had flat silver hair that went down to his neck before ending in rough spikes. Wearing just a zipped up vest as a shirt showed off his muscular arms, and the vests bright white and yellow pattern drew the eye as well. The only strange thing was that he looked uneasy, like he had somewhere else he wanted to go.

Despite their strange looks Pyrrha knew they had to be strong. They were the four highest ranked fighters in Mistral (after she'd left) and each of them had an impressive set of wins to go along with that. It was no mistake they'd all been paired together, the initially planned team PeRFeCt had been decided when everyone assumed she'd be going to Haven. It was the dream team, made to ensure victory in the Vytal festival and any other inter-school competitions. She'd broken that dream by going to Beacon, and it seemed they'd found new members and a new acronym.

The sound of high heels drew her attention from where they'd lined up at the end of the ramp back to the top of it as her mother made an appearance. She had changed more since Pyrrha had last seen her, her red hair more elegantly done up and the amount of gold detailing on the black dress she was wearing had also increased if Pyrrha remembered correctly. Her mother looked even younger than when she'd had last seen her a year ago, if that was possible. Her father was a little behind her mother, looking plain in comparison with just a suit, but he smiled and his green eyes lit up when he saw her, and she returned it with her first genuine smile that day.

She lost it just as quickly as her mother approached, before giving her a stiff hug. Her mother looked her over before saying "You look well, though I hope you've improved your skills as well."

"Of course Mother, Beacon has excellent teachers and I've learned more than I had hoped."

"Yes, you mentioned that when you first argued to go there. I'm still not sure if they're superior to those at Haven but I suppose we'll see when you next fight. It's an old argument we don't need to return too, for now let's just go out and meet the fans, it's not every day you get to see the five best fighters in Mistral in one location." She finished when she noticed Pyrrha's grimace after her first comment.

She didn't want to, but she fell into line with the other competitors as they headed back to the crowd. As the other four stepped into the door to leave the airpad with her mother, she hesitated for a second before stepping out with them. Her father stepped up next to her and put his arm around her before saying smiling and saying "I know it's not exactly how you imagined it, but at least we're here now. All you have to greet a few fans then we can go to lunch at a new restaurant around here, just the three of us." She took some solace in that, put on a smile, and went out to greet them.

* * *

They didn't beat the ship to the harbor, despite an application of Ruby's speed to try to get there first. When they finally got to where the ship docked they found it offloading crates onto the docks nearby. She didn't see anyone who looked like Jaune, and the only voice that she could hear was a woman yelling at some of the workers on the ship. When Jaune managed to pull his head out of the trashcan he'd stuck it in after her semblance had ended he groaned out "That sounds like my mom. They're probably off-loading the ship first. They should be down soon."

"Oh. Okay." She replied, not really paying attention. She was too busy looking up at the larger ship and watching the workers. They were getting the containers unloaded at an incredible rate, and she couldn't help but be distracted by the machinery and a variety of weapons all the workers carried. Cutlasses that doubled as guns were the most common weapons, but she saw axes, shotguns, and even rocket launchers mounted on the boat. It was more heavily armed than most bulkheads from what she could see. Though why a cargo ship would need to be so heavily armed was beyond her.

Jaune finally managed to join her once the ship was almost unloaded. "My mom runs the company, but my dad helps chart and clear new routes." He said to fill the silence as he stared towards the deck of the ship. Eventually he saw a man leaning on the ship railing and waved at him, she watched the older man with blonde hair, probably Jaune's dad, wave back. Her attention was drawn from that by a tan woman leaping off the deck and tackling Jaune, knocking her and Jaune over as she landed. When she stopped seeing stars and was able to focus again, she saw a woman with shoulder length shaggy blonde hair on a muscular frame in a red shirt with a black vest over it rubbing her head and sitting where she'd landed. The woman looked at her when she'd finished before smiling and saying "Sorry, didn't mean to hit you just-" before being cut off by a shout of "LUXANDRA ARC!" and flinching. Ruby looked up and saw an older blonde woman leaning over the edge of the ship and shaking a fist. Before the older woman could say anymore Luxandra was pushed to the side by Jaune as he sat up and gasped for breath.

"Watch it Jaune, if this keeps up I'm gonna wind up with head trauma." Luxandra said, holding her head where she'd hit it again.

"I'm sure that could only improve your intelligence." A third voice cut in. Ruby turned to look at it and saw a different woman walking down the steps with more grace than even Weiss. The woman had on a white blouse with a blue skirt and blonde hair tied up in a bun, along with blue eyes to match the other two Arcs. She couldn't have been more different in demeanor though, giving off a regal aura that made Ruby immediately stand up and start dusting herself off before she caught herself. The woman went to Jaune first and helped him up saying "You look well, Jaune."

"Yeah I've been doing pretty well, at least until SOMEONE tackled me. What about you Artora, Shiro didn't come with you?"

"There were only five tickets, and he was busy regardless. Everyone else says hi by the way." Before they could say anymore the woman and man from earlier finished coming down the ramp, and the woman wrapped Jaune in a crushing hug when she reached him. Now that Ruby got a better look at her she could see that the woman had tan skin with long blonde hair and was wearing a blue vest with a red scarf over a white shirt. The man in the green shirt that she could now see had some pattern around the arms and neck was standing behind them, watching with a smile. "It's good to see you again, scroll calls just don't feel the same." She turned to face Ruby before saying "Aren't you going to introduce us to your friend?"

"Oh, right, sorry. Ruby this is my mom, dad and two of my sisters. Everyone this is Ruby Rose, my friend and another team leader."

"I'm Tetra, and this is my husband Link. The two girls are my daughters Artora and Luxandra, as my son forgot to mention." She said indicating them as she went before glaring at Jaune. "I run the Arc Shipping Company along with them, though Artora doesn't work for the company, she's a representative in the Vale government."

"Is this everybody?" Jaune asked. "I know not everyone could come, but I sent five tickets."

"Dad disembarked early, wanted to go see the school and visit his old students." Link said. "He'll join up with us for lunch later at the restaurant. As for everybody else, with us and dad going we only had two spaces left so we had your sisters who could go draw straws."

"And we won!" Luxandra cut it. "Leona and Augusta sent a card though, dad should have it.

"Oh, right!" Jaune's dad said before fishing around his pockets for a second before finding it and handing it over. Ruby leaned in to get a look, before squeeing at a crayon stick drawing that was obviously meant to be Jaune standing victorious over defeated foes in the arena, with "Go Jaune" written in large uneven letters over it.

"I'll have to thank them next time I call." Jaune said smiling, before carefully tucking the card away.

"If we don't hurry we're going to be late for lunch mother." Artora's calm voice cut in. "They won't hold are table forever."

"Where are the rest of your friends, I thought you said there'd be more coming?" Tetra asked "We got the reservation at Rito's for eight."

"Well, uh, they're uh, meeting us at the restaurant! Right Ruby? You just need to message them the place." He got out while turning to her and smiling awkwardly.

"I got you." She replied before going to her scroll to message them while they walked towards the place after Jaune's mom told her the address.

 _R: So who wants to go to lunch with me and Jaune's family?_

 _W: I'll pass_

 _B: No._

 _Y: Sorry Rubes, but no thanks_

Well she hadn't expected full agreement, but this was far worse than she'd figure'd. This meant one thing and one thing only: It was time to use force.

 _R: As team leader I order you to come to lunch for team bonding._

 _W: You can't order us to a lunch as team leader you dunce!_

 _B: No._

Alright then. It was time to use her second to last resort. A technique her uncle Qrow had passed down from her mother to persuade almost anyone: manipulating people around her innocence. A tiny lie here or there would simply be passed off as a mistake, rather than the open lie it was. She didn't like using it but desperate times called for desperate measures, so she sent:

 _R: Pleeeeease guys, were going to a really nice restaurant. it's just his mom and dad who run a large shipping company, and two of his sisters who work for the vale government._

 _Y: How nice?_

 _R: Suuuuuuper nice, it's called Rito's_

 _B: I'm in._

 _Y: And they're paying?_

 _R: Of course_

 _W: I'll be there, I just need a few minutes to get ready_

 _Y: Sure then, why not_

 _R: :D Okay see you there, It's at the corner of West and 12_ _th_ _street'_

Yes! It had worked perfectly. She saw Jaune falling back slightly from the conversation ahead as he fell into step with her "Everything good?" he whispered.

"Yeah, Blake, Yang and Weiss all agreed to come, it just took a little persuading."

"Thanks, if you ever need any help with anything like this just ask and Team JNPR will be happy to help."

"I don't think situations where you need to introduce friends to your parents because your other friends went on a sugar rampage happen all that often, but if one does you'll be my first call." She joked back.

"You know what I mean. Now let's get back up with the rest of the group, Artora's started on a lovely story about all the new policies for the Vytal Festival, and while that could put Oobleck to sleep, mom'll get mad if we don't at least pretend to care." He said quietly. "On the upside mom might force dad into telling a story about his latest adventure, and that'll actually be interesting." When he saw Ruby's skeptical look he added "He explores old ruins and clears trade routes of grimm, all high seas battles and new discoveries."

That Ruby thought, actually did sound interesting.

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 **AN: So I've had this idea since before volume 3, but I never knew where exactly to go with it. After it aired I had a better idea, but just never got around to writing it. Well the first chapters finished now, and I'll try to update monthly. Future chapters should be longer, and I'll add more authors note explaining other things in and about the story. There will be some OCs but I'm going to try to base them on other characters from anime, tv, and video games.**

 **The basic idea behind this story was a JaunexPyrrha romance, and how a visiting Mystral team would influence and stress that relationship. I also wanted to write about the Arc family so I combined all the ideas into one fic, and I think it's more interesting for that. It took awhile to figure out where a story like that would go, and how the tournament would influence it, when volume 3 aired it actually gave me basic plan for the story and how it should advance, and so I was able to actually write the fic. The romance won't be easy or perfect, but I'm going to try to avoid pointless drama and aim for more meaningful conflicts and characters. Part of RWBY is having stock characters and deconstructing them slightly, and thats what I intend to do as well, especially with Team FRST. See you next chapter.**


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